More than 200 medical students were able to come face-to-face with future career paths at the 11th annual AMA Medical Specialty Showcase Saturday during the 2014 AMA Annual Meeting.
Physicians and residents from 50 medical specialties offered career advice and information about their respective fields. The showcase, hosted by the AMA Medical Student Section (MSS), provides medical students with the comprehensive information they need to navigate the residency selection process and choose a specialty.
“I am undecided, and I’m looking for some information that can give me direction or a path to follow,” said Andrew Benintende, who just completed his first year at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. “I need guidance on what steps to take.”
Third-year Rutgers New Jersey Medical School student Divya Sharma, who also is chair of the AMA-MSS Committee on Global and Public Health, said she appreciated the number of specialty representatives.
“It’s great to get exposure to multiple specialties at once,” Sharma said. “The residents here are really active in their specialty societies, and that’s inspiring to me.”
Among the specialties represented were pediatrics, radiology, cardiology and infectious disease. Each specialty exhibit provided materials to help students as they make their career decisions.
“They don’t know about certain specialties, especially ones that aren’t in the primary medical school curriculum,” said Kimberly Applegate, MD, a pediatric radiologist and professor at Emory University School of Medicine, who participated in the event. “It’s important for them to get information and talk to specialists face-to-face. We bring residents because they can relate to students’ angst in making a decision.”
AMA medical student members have access to online resources, including Choosing a Medical Specialty and FREIDA Online®, to assist in making this important decision.
